More chaotic/time-wasting NHS admin

M0nica

Perhaps they use Fujitsu.

I worked as an administrator in the NHS for two years. The usual thing with computer systems was to commission one at great expense which had all the bells @ whistles that the management required. Once it was installed, the glitches would gradually appear, and the software company were brought back in to fix it, and so it went on.

It seems to me that many of these comments/complaints are aimed at the admin, not the nursing/medical staff.

I've lost count of how many hospital appointments I've had over the last two and a half years, but I'm glad to report that I've hardly had any letters about any of them, nor about the results. I don't need to because everything is online. Changes of address and medication are done centrally and available to all clinicians. I receive dates and times online and if they're inconvenient, I send a message and a change is made. Blood test results are usually available online by the end of the day and other results are available within a few days. I can also read my discharge notes and correspondence between my GP and the hospital. Before I was formally discharged from oncology, I could send a message about any concern via the "system" and I always received a reply.

Why can't all systems be like that?

PS. The only problem is if Microsoft has a global outage!

A few months ago I had surgery for cancer and on the whole my treatment was very good. Post surgery I was prescribed compression stockings with the request for the prescription being sent to my GP. Six weeks later along came a pair - wrong colour and wrong size. I went to the surgery, asked the receptionist if they could be changed, but was told to return them to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, the pharmacist said that they could not be returned. I popped in to the Lymphoedema Dept of my local hospital and they again wrote to the surgery with the correct prescription, sending me a copy. A month later 2 compression sleeves arrived, not stockings, so back to the surgery where they said that they would again reorder. Another month later 2 more pairs were delivered, this time wrong colour and ankle length rather than below the knee.

I wrote to the surgery and once again they have reordered and are treating my letter as an official complaint.

I did consider buying my own stockings but they are £76 a pair which I can't afford. The surgery will have to bear the cost of 6 wasted pairs as well as the time spent in dealing with the matter and I have had to do without my prescription as well become more and more stressed. Grrh.....

Jess20

My son with cystic fibrosis has often been on more than 20 different prescription items a month. Some from the GP, some from the hospital and others delivered every 2-3 months by private companies. Surprisingly, given the comments on here, he rarely has any issues. He's very much on top of things though and has a great CF team who really get things done. The biggest problems arise when suppliers use companies like DHL to do the deliveries as they don't seem to be able to follow their own processes properly and hundreds of pounds worth of medical supplies has been dumped on our doorstep in the rain while we were out.

I have nothing but problems trying to manage my meds, which are similar.

It took me a year to be told that a private company would be handling one of my meds. Up until that time I would be told off by the consultant and the gp for not taking them, but I didn't know how to get them.

The gp receptionist would say they hadn't received emails, the consultant would be angry with me for attending an appointment when I wasn't taking the meds they'd described.

Then I saw a pharmacist who gave me a bit of paper with a company's name and number on, and said these people should be monitoring you and prescribing this medication.

Absolutely true, as an ex NHS administrator, no money for IT and most of it was antiquated when I left in 2020.

There is a world of difference between admin in hospitals and admin in GP surgeries. GPs are independent contractors, they are small businesses, and are as efficient as they can be with the inability to afford enough staff. GP remuneration from the Government is their main source of income and this has decreased yeay on year, whilst the number of patients per GP has shot up dramatically. The Government has placed a limit on the number of GP training places at universities, which is crazy when so many more are needed and we shouldn't be raiding other countries' GPs because we won't train enough of our own. Overwork causes GPs to burn out, retire early, or even take their own lives. Their IT systems were developed by themselves they are incredible and are at least 20 years ahead of hospital systems. However the GP developers have largely left the companies who have got too big, have shareholders to keep happy, and the contant tweaking is no longer as easy.

My son with cystic fibrosis has often been on more than 20 different prescription items a month. Some from the GP, some from the hospital and others delivered every 2-3 months by private companies. Surprisingly, given the comments on here, he rarely has any issues. He's very much on top of things though and has a great CF team who really get things done. The biggest problems arise when suppliers use companies like DHL to do the deliveries as they don't seem to be able to follow their own processes properly and hundreds of pounds worth of medical supplies has been dumped on our doorstep in the rain while we were out.

MissAdventure

Before coving, we took my mum to an appointment at the hospital.

We waited, and waited, and waited.
We read the notice telling us to be patient, as we were in a queueing system for several different clinics, so people may well be seen before us.

We waited some more, and some more.

Then we saw the staff putting on their coats, and having a chat, as they turned the lights off, and began walking to the door!

That’s hilarious 😂

JaneJudge

I think they want people to miss their appointments so they can sign them off

I like your thinking 👏👏

Before coving, we took my mum to an appointment at the hospital.

We waited, and waited, and waited.
We read the notice telling us to be patient, as we were in a queueing system for several different clinics, so people may well be seen before us.

We waited some more, and some more.

Then we saw the staff putting on their coats, and having a chat, as they turned the lights off, and began walking to the door!

I suspected Nigel Farage might have something to do with it

The NHS has suffered badly from being a political football over the years. It was deliberately underfunded in the name of 'austerity' and has had to endure a number of sometimes pointless seeming 'reorganisations'.

However, just as a counter view. I was booked for \hip replacement op tomorrow. It has had to be postponed because the PRIVATE clinic I was booked at (for an NHS op) forgot to call me for a pre-op assessment. It's not the end of the world, but it's annoying...

What a pity. I was enchanted by Jaywick years ago, with those pretty little bungalows, with sand in their gardens.

Clacton includes Jaywick. This has been named the most deprived area in Britain(Wikipedia) 62% of people on Benefits and multiply social problems including drug abuse. It has one of the most beautiful beaches on the Sunshine Coast. Successive governments, MP’s and councils have failed to improve the lot of these people. They obviously think that Nigel Farage could be the catalyst for change for them. I hope that they are right. Maybe his friend Donald will build a world famous golf course for them????

crazyH

I find these complaints about the NHS rather tedious.. Just be glad we have one. Yes, you may have to wait a few months for a routine operation. My friend who had an urgent heart condition, was rushed to a top London hospital, because there were neither beds nor expertise, in the local hospital. His life was saved. Try living in a country, where your survival depends on your wealth

I think we are now in danger of living in a country where survival depends on wealth!
Your friend was lucky. Many more people aren't that lucky and end up living in pain or their problems getting past the point where they can be treated successfully and, worse still not surviving.
Do not understand how you can be so flippant about such a serious situation.

Sorry should be GP!

I would advise everyone to log into the NHS app and check their GP app. I was appalled that so much of my information on the system was wrong. It said I had been seen and all test results had be discussed with me. I haven’t seen anyone and cannot get to see a HP having been told there are no appointments for the foreseeable future. Time for a change me thinks.

I was told I had missed an appointment which I had fought to get, because I genuinely felt I would die without it.

I was so, so, angry, I stood my ground, and said how DARE they try to blame me, and I wanted to know the date it was sent.

The lady on the phone then changed it to say oh, sorry, it was a meeting about you, not one you needed to attend after all.

I'm sure we are all grateful that we have the NHS. In many ways it's marvellous.
But that doesn't mean it can't be improved, especially the admin side of it. I, like others, have experienced duplicate letters, inaccurate letters and appointments etc. And most disturbing is that when I asked for a copy of my medical records recently I was surprised at the number of inaccuracies in it.
Yes, it's wonderful, but needs a good shake up and overhauling.

I’m not sure that the letters ever actually get touched by human hand. I suspect that they are generated, printed, folded and posted automatically. But it really shouldn’t be too difficult to go into the system and make the necessary change to make sure that the right phone number is printed onto the letters.

So many people simply don’t turn up to appointments, and the amount that is wasted through missed appointments far outweighs the additional cost of sending out reminder letters. I assume these are generated automatically, so the actual cost of sending them is probably pretty low. I get texts too.

"So why the hell are letters still being sent out with the wrong number? If they don’t want the expense of re-printing, can’t someone cross it out and write in the correct one?"
Because that would have far too easy Witzend!
I recently had an issue with my medication request and a simple message on each item that I requested was missed - I phoned the surgery to make enquiries as to why the messages were missed only to be told by the receptionist "I don't know, that's not my job"! I was absolutely furious to say the least.

MissAdventure

My daughter missed out on a chance to try a trial for her cancer, when all other options weren't viable, due to mismanaged admin between her hospital and the Marsden.

that is just utterly heart breaking

cc

JaneJudge

I think they want people to miss their appointments so they can sign them off

They certainly threatened my husband with that.

it has happened with my dd more than once, same department. They've even lied about calling me